shamu144

Thanks for the clarifications. Curiously, this bug does not affect equaly all devices supporting integer mode ? It makes me feel still a little unsure about it. I would think CoreAudio could truncate a 24bits packed stream to 16bits before sending it to the AP2. It is possible to change this value manually in AMS though.

I have just downloaded the demo version of AudirvanaPlus. Impressive work indeed, congratulations Damien. I was looking for a high quality and configurable upsampling software which would allow easy interaction with iTunes. Well, AudirvanaPlus in integrated mode with the iZopotope SRC seems like the perfect match for me. I use an Audiophilleo2 and set the upsampling in AudirvanaPlus to 24/96 (minimum phase apodising filter settings, following recommendations somewhere on those boards). No use of digital volume control nor dither. When running INTeger mode, for some reasons, the AudioMidi Set Up panel will only show the device working at 16/96 ? I had the exact same issue with Pure Music... What could be causing that ? Now I am wondering if I really get a 24bits stream in INTeger mode or a truncated stream at 16bits. I manually can set the device at 24bits, but it is a bit cumbersome, and don't even know if that is effective at all. Another question I have is regarding dithering. I have the feeling dithering is not active when performing upsampling operations, while Miska and others here do recommend to apply some dithering in all digital manipulation (I think it was meant to reduce quantization noise). Finally, when setting upsampling target at 24/96, will a native 24/96 go through the digital filter settings ? Thanks a lot !

Well, maybe... After experiencing some issues with the SQ in version 1.8 (namely hot treble, sterile and uninvolving listening experience, slightly agressive and harsh), I went back to PM 1.74. ...And had problems again with PM 1.74, this time not allowing to playback high rez files (would play very slowly, completely distorted), and regular redbook file format would play with very poor SQ when I previously had absolutely no problem at all. Well, it appears that the sample rate of my Audiophilleo2 was "blocked" on 48khz... I am not too sure how this happened since I was not able to reproduce it later, but there it was displayed in the AMS under device properties whatever PM 1.74 would play... So I modified it manually to 44.1khz after closing PM and iTunes, and relaunched...PM 1.74 finally worked as expected. I then decided to give a try again to PM1.8 with HOG mode and Integer playback... And yes, the issues I was experiencing seem now completely gone. The difference is pretty obvious. No more harsh and unpleasant sound, but indeed a very nice improvement over 1.74 without any downside so far. Treble is refined and more organic, while also clearly more detailed in my system but not to the extent of beeing overemphasized at all. More listening will confirm hopefully those early impressions, but it looks very good so far. By the way, I have now desactivated Integer playback in PM1.8... When activated, PM would only pass 16bits to the Audiophilleo2 in this mode whatever the sample rate / bit depth of the original file, so there still might be something not working properly here. This is easy to monitor in the AMS properties panel (I choose to show the device properties, in my case AP2) while playing 24/88 files with PM1.8 for example, where it will show only 2ch-16bits. And I can change it directly from the AMS panel on the fly to 2ch-24bits and indeed did notice change in sound (for better). Integer mode was supposed not to mess with bit depth, so I am really surprised here. Maybe my device do not support it? When in HOG mode only, the conflict do not happen, playing properly high rez files and showing also in the AMS panel the correct current sample rate/bit depth. This is how I have PM1.8 set up now. I hope to be able to confirm in a few days wether PM1.8 do consistently improve on 1.74 in my system.

I think it would be fair for those of us who are having issues with the SQ of PM 1.8 (so far Fitz and 57Gold as well as myself) to drop a mail to Rob at Channel D to share our inputs. I wouldn't if I was convinced this was only an issue in my set up, but this is apparently not the case, and similar SQ issues have been reported so far in completely different playback systems. Who knows, there might be some incompatibilities with certain hardwares or OSX set up.

Even older computer here, Dell AMD Athlon 2.8Ghz with 2GB RAM only. I think it is also XP SP2. Now that you mention it, I remember having a really hard time setting this card to function properly ! It was like 2 years ago, and I mostly use it for recording 24/88 stream through SPDIF or analog playback. Had terrible clicks and pops issues, even with playback through SPDIF, especially high rez material. Was desperate for help and contacted M-Audio through their user forum. Curiously, it was easily fixed with an "old" driver version (5057v3) instead of the latest available at that time. Maybe you should give it a try. Never messed again with the drivers. Both digital and analog output sound fine since then under ASIO/Foobar. Those problems can really turn you off the computer audio sometimes.

I am away from home for a few days and can't experiment further with integer mode at the moment. 57Gold, have you tried to disable the integer mode in PM 1.8? Do you still get this frequency shift and relative harshness when integer mode is off? Apparently, it worked out for Fitz Music. I still find very curious that Audirvana with integer mode do not show this behaviour in your system, nor was PM 1.74 in mine.

What OS are you using... I have a M-audio 192 and no problem to play back high rez files up to 24/192. I use Foobar as well, with WinXP, and choose ASIO output. Maybe the M-audio 192 drivers are not really compatible with WASAPI exclusive mode in Win 7 ?

With you barrows, but my point is that the change I am experimenting in my system with the new version (along with more people apparently) is to my ears not subtle, and it might take more than just a swap in some IC and (expensive) power cords to bring back the previous tonal balance, if even possible at all (hopefully yes, and I will surely try). Using myself the already asynch USB to SPDIF Audiophilleo 2 converter into a Lavry DA11, I would find really surprising if this change was due to better jitter management only... And what if version 1.9 sounds completely different again. I would rather not have to play the compensation game every time a new version is out. Personnally, I prefer my system to be "set and forget".

I can definitely hear what you are mentionning 57Gold. While technically much superior, with much more dynamic, reducing background noise and improving instrument separation, PM1.8 with integer mode do appear to my ears as more agressive with what seems more pronounced highs (a bit shrill for some recordings) and lacking somehow body and weight in the notes as compared to the previous 1.74 version. It has become in my system a little too sterile, missing this touch of analog feeling I had with the previous version. I guess this will be very system dependant. I will let it settle for a few days in my system and try to get my ears adapted to this new tonal balance, but I am indeed considering at this point going back to the previous version.

I have an old 2007 model macbook with 4GB RAM (only 3GB really used) and it handles integer mode perfectly so far with the Audiophilleo2. This new version do indeed sound very different from the previous ones as reported by many ... It is not subtle.

I imagine results will greatly vary depending on crossfeed implementation. I use a profesional software crossfeed (Redline Monitor) in addition to Pure Music, and must say that I will not look back. I have it always turned on, much less fatigue and more natural without obvious downsides. However, crossfeed results could also be headphone and system dependant, so you might want to try it by yourself before taking the plunge.

Thank you Eloise for the clarifications. But it seems as if the effective range is superior. Arcam says about their rWave dongle: "The rWave has a range of approx. 50m for whole house coverage"... What a pity though if that new point-to-point technology is only limited to 16/48 ! That would be nice if someone could confirm.

That would be a fantastic news... Imagine some Asynch WIFI/SPDIF converters available on the market today... If it really does what it says, I'll buy one in a eye blink ! Arcam, do you ear me ;-) Great to know WIFI can currenlty stream high rez files.

I don't know about new release of asynch USB converters, but I was actually wondering what would be the result of asynch wifi compared to asynch USB as implemented for example in the rDAC with the rWave dongle (KLEER technology)... Would that allow for high rez streaming as well... If so, that might turn out to be a serious alternative to asynch USB, easy to set up and no need to have the computer close to the playback system.

Thank you for the review. <br /> <br /> It looks like the audio industry is finally embracing the asynchronous USB as a new standard for tomorrow computer playback. Offering from different brands are popping up every week (Ayre, Esoteric, Grace Design, Audiolab, now Arcam).<br /> <br /> In my system, asynch USB is far superior to adaptive USB (using Audiophilleo2 and Lavry DA11). So your conclusions are not so surprising, though most welcomed.<br /> <br /> I feel digital playback is having a second birth !